Beware of Romulans Bearing Gifts … Unless They’re For Us

Happy holidays! In honor of the season, the TrekMovie team has done a little round-up that should cover both the receiving and the giving side of the holidays.

First, we all picked one Star Trek-related item that we wish we could receive. They’re not all realistic–in fact, they’re not even all available–but they are just things we like to think about in our dreamier, more acquisition-y moments.

And then we all wanted to list a charity that means something to us. Maybe you’ll donate, maybe you’ll read up on it, or maybe it’ll remind you to spare a little money for the charity of your own choice. Either way, the philosophy of Star Trek has us all thinking beyond ourselves, and wanting to help others.

So happy holidays to all, enjoy our wish and wishful lists, and post your own in the comments!

While in reality I do not yet have the new, expanded, behemoth Star Trek Encyclopedia released this past October by the Okudas, what I would really like for Christmas is something that does not exist! Said gift is a Dr. Beverly Crusher Funko figure, since Funko made the entire rest of the senior staff, a generic Klingon and a generic Borg but no Crusher! That is just a crime. I have tweeted @OriginalFunko to no avail. If you want a Crusher Funko, you need to order a custom one (see above). Who will patch your away team up after their dangerous mission if there is no doctor? It is about time Gates McFadden/Dr. Crusher had her own Funko representation.

CHARITY

In the spirit of holiday giving, my personal favorite charity (aside from the Ms. Foundation and Planned Parenthood) is Charity: Water. Too many people around the globe lack this basic resource, including the people of Flint, Michigan. I have donated my birthday to Charity: Water in the past and the great part about their organization is that they keep you updated on where your donation has gone, what it helped accomplish, and which community is receiving clean water because of your donation.

I wish all of our TrekMovie fans the best and nerdiest holiday season!

All I want for Christmas is Kirk’s field jacket from Star Trek Beyond. Officially it is known as the “Starfleet Survival Suit Jacket”, but whatever its name, it’s pretty sweet. Discussing Anovos’ beautiful and exact duplicate with my TrekMovie compatriots, we all agreed that it is the one official Star Trek uniform we could see wearing as a functioning item in public. Lucky for them, it will only cost $575, which is a bargain split several ways.

CHARITY

Ten years ago I adopted two rescue kittens that were found in a car engine block. I grew attached to them as no other cat or dog before. Earlier this month, my cat Yoda passed away due to a rare disease. When I think of all the rescue animals out there, discarded or abandoned, I want to save them all. American Humane attempts to do just that.

For Christmas, I’d love an announcement from CBS that they will be remastering DS9 and VOY in HD. While we have new, affordable, DVD sets on the way in the new year, both shows could really use the treatment that TNG received.

CHARITY

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) provides basic healthcare, performs surgery, fights epidemics, rehabilitates and runs hospitals and clinics, carries out vaccination campaigns, operates nutrition centres, and provides mental healthcare all over the world – from the poorest countries, conflict zones, and areas struck by natural disasters. MSF staff are volunteers and need our assistance to help fund their activities. MSF have suffered great losses around the world in conflict zones ranging from Syria to Yemen over the past several years. In the spirit of Star Trek, they represent the best in humanity: they have saved an incredible number of lives, and go wherever they are needed…even if it is into harm’s way.

The Star Trek gift I would most like to receive is the Hallmark NYCC Exclusive Defiant ornament. I have the entire Hallmark Star Trek Ornament collection, except for this ship and the SDCC exclusive battle-damaged Kelvin. Unfortunately, the Defiant is listed on eBay for between $650-$800. There are a few Kelvins going for around $350. I just can’t justify spending over $1100 on two pieces of plastic to complete my collection, but if Santa is reading this…..

CHARITY

I donate to many charities, but for this purpose I am choosing a smaller, local one that is dear to me. The San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy is a is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservancy dedicated to sustainable management of the natural resources of the San Dieguito Watershed with priority given to the protection of the San Dieguito River corridor. SDRVC has a 28-year record of moving the vision of a 92,000-acre San Dieguito River Park and its 70-mile Coast to Crest Trail from the ocean at Del Mar to Volcan Mountain north of Julian, CA to a maturing reality and is led by a citizen Board of Directors and is supported in activities and financially by more than 1,300 members. SDRVC partners with the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority, citizens, land owners, governments and other stakeholders to ensure coordinated protection of our natural resources while fully respecting and protecting private property rights.

I use the River Park weekly for hiking and mountain biking. I have enjoyed docent and ranger-led hikes in the SDRP, and I have taken tracking classes and volunteered as a citizen scientist doing bird counts, reviewing wildlife camera recordings, and tracking surveys. Find out more here: http://sandieguitorivervalleyconservancy.org

This year for Christmas I just want to find a good home for my Mego Motion Picture figures. No, I’m not giving them away, I want The Mego USS Enterprise Bridge from Star Trek The Motion Picture and the Vulcan Shuttle for them to live in!

You can find the bridge on eBay anywhere from $125 for ones with a few pieces missing to no $600+ for mint in box! You can find the Vulcan shuttle…nowhere as this was the end of the line for Mego, unable to compete with Kenner and Star Wars, and it was never produced despite the rumors.

Neither of these are happening for me, but many of my Christmas memories are of pouring over the Sears catalog, choosing a great toy … and then getting an accessory for the great toy. Parents just don’t understand.

Check out the original Toy Fair promo/commercial at the Mego Museum:

CHARITY

This time of year is about giving and not receiving. A charity that is important to me, literally life saving, is Donate Life America a charity for organ donation, and as a recipient of a heart transplant three years ago, it’s important. Every dollar that is contributed to Donate Life America goes directly toward maximizing the number of donated organs, eyes and tissue available to save and heal lives.

Only 52% of Americans are donors and there are more than 120,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving transplant, so even if you can’t donate money, you can sign up to be a donor.

Happy Holidays and Live Long and Prosper!

MATT WRIGHT

STAR TREK GIFT

Framed copy of Kirk Fu by Anna-Maria Jung, because everyone could use some Kirk Fu in their lives! This is fun print I’ve had on my “some day when I have an all Trek room in my house” list.

CHARITY

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. They work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows and changes.

Much of Star Trek is about exploring strange new worlds so why not start with this third (Class M) planet from the Sun, with a brightly marked piece of Trek luggage one could take that shore leave they have been waiting for? This season does not have to be about items to cherish; it can be about new experiences and sharing them with those you love.

CHARITY

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation has given hope to so many who suffer spinal cord injuries. “Since 1982, the Reeve Foundation has awarded nearly $120 million to labs around the globe to accelerate scientific breakthroughs across the field. ” Christopher and Dana were hands-on leaders who helped unite those living with paralysis and their families. Today the foundation’s mission is “to cure spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.”

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
– Christopher Reeve

I think what I really want is for CBS to fix their streams of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Netflix (and other streaming providers too) so that the quality isn’t so poor. I am trying not to accumulate too much physical media right now, as I’m raising kids and our house really doesn’t need more stuff in it, but when I watch DS9 and Voyager on Netflix the quality is just so poor, it makes me sad. My expert on the TrekMovie team tells me that they didn’t deinterlace the standard definition masters properly before handing them off to the streaming providers, which sounds like something La Forge would be happy to fix for me, but apparently he’s booked. CBS? Hook a fan up!

CHARITY

Since John already mentioned Doctors Without Borders, I will suggest the Coalition for the Homeless. New York is my home, and it’s capable of such greatness, but on its streets are so many people in need of food, shelter, and medical attention. The Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women and children. They bring hot meals to people in the street every night of the year, provide job training, give homeless kids help and support to stay in school, and provide immediate, lifesaving help to homeless and at-risk men, women and children at their headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

Now tell us about the Star Trek gift YOU’D most like to receive, and then post your favorite charity, if you’re so inclined. Happy holidays to everyone from all of us at TrekMovie. #LLAP

Doctors Without Borders is great! They’re well-deserving. I’m starting three monthly donations this year (Democracy Spring, 350.org, and ACLU), but if and when I can afford to add one, DWB would be at the top of my list. I’ve given to them before, including as gifts.

I had that ST:TMP bridge set when I was a kid. It was a glorious assemblage of cheap plastic that fell apart whenever I moved it, but I loved it to… Oh man, I was going to say “I loved it to pieces,” but that’s way too literal for me.

Interesting main image with this story. Reminds me of 2 years ago, when TV Guide did an article on the worst TV Christmas shows of all time … and — among a list that writeups about such actual things as Christmas episodes of “ALF” and “Masters of the Universe” — included what the TV Guide reporter claimed to be a Christmas episode of the original “Star Trek.” Problem is … the TV Guide reporter got the information about the plot of this episode entirely from an online satire article that has been written about 10 years ago. The TV Guide “reporter” thought it was the real deal, and went with it. And none of the fact checkers at TV Guide caught the fakery of it, even with the claim that the episode about a Christmas planet whose residents were in awe of Spock’s pointed ears had aired once in the 1960s and was then was rumored to have been burned in the 1970s by Gene Roddenberry! Since TV Guide could find no photo from the (non-existent) episode to run with that part of the article, they instead ran a posed photo of Kirk/Spock/McCoy, with Photoshopped Santa hats on! (Lesson: Be wary of what you read on the Internet!)

I’d like to nominate this scene for best Kirk Fu. When Kirk does the “wall of destruction” move, and the andorian hits the floor, it makes a sound like someone has hit the bottom of a plastic bucket with a metal spoon. An all-time classic.